Hidden
by LordWolf77
Summary: Hogwarts, in the midst of its darkest days, gets a helping hand. For better or worse.
1. Chapter 1

The pickaxe swung, sweat dripping down the thin arms controlling it. A hand reached up and wiped the sweat from the owner's brow. The boy reached in to the barrel behind him and scooped out a cup of water. After the cup was empty he set it back in the barrel and returned to swinging the axe. Three swings later and the boy hit a black gem hidden in the dirt. He reached down and picked it up, staring into the black dracstone in his hand.

A figure came into the tunnel behind him and placed a hand on his shoulder. "It is time."

The boy nodded and followed behind the figure, winding their way from the tunnels he had dug. They strode silently through halls of white, black, gold, silver, even platinum. Finally, they reached a door to the side of the hall. The cloaked figure pushed it open and let the boy in. He closed the door, leaving the boy alone in the darkened room.

The small boy moved to the table in the center of the room. He had long since gotten used to being alone in this place. He had been here for nearly four years, though according to his…. Friends… he would be leaving this year for some time.

He had been training for this for two years, it was finally time to test himself. Reaching out beyond himself he felt everything in the room around him and fell into a deep meditation.

A raven-haired boy stepped down from the scarlet train and into the small magical village. He had a quiet ride, the wards he found in his book already serving him well. The large man at the end of the road called for all first years, so the boy strode along with the rest of the cattle. Boats were at the bottom of a hill, enough, barely, for all of them. The skinny boy ended up in a boat with a blonde-haired ponce who wouldn't shut up about his father, and two Neanderthals.

He watched as the boat rounded the bend, the castle was breathtaking, even he couldn't deny that. Shortly thereafter, the boats docked under the edge of the castle. A stern-looking woman stood at the top of a staircase, looking at them through the eyes of a well-lived warden.

"Welcome to Hogwarts. In a few moments, I will lead you through these doors and to the Great Hall of this castle. There, you will be sorted into one of four Houses. Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin. While you attend this school, your house will be your family. As a team, you will gain points for extraordinary work or behavior. Any negative behavior and you will lose points."

With that, the woman turned and left the group of teens in the hall they arrived in. Just as a boy laid a hand on the raven-haired boy's shoulder she returned.

"They are ready for you."

The group followed the elder woman through the halls of the castle, the boy mapping it all in his head as they approached the large doors to the Great Hall. Slipping through the tables they were led to a stool, an old hat perched on top of it. A small shimmer of magic visible to the boy as he looked through the hall.

The old Scottish woman started reading names from the scroll she picked up. Some went to every table. The woman stopped, a lump clearly presenting itself as she read the next name from her scroll.

"Harry Potter."

Cries of rage, sorrow, and many other emotions floated through the room. It was common knowledge by this point that Harry Potter died on his eleventh birthday. The muggles he was staying with caused some explosion and it wiped out half the neighborhood as well. The news had covered the event thoroughly.

The boy stepped up to the chair, causing everyone to stop. He placed the hat on his head and felt its presence enter his mind.

 _So, you are the great, dead Harry Potter? Not so dead, are you? Now let's look at you. Loyal to a fault, but only once someone proves themselves. Braver even than Godric himself. More cunning than the Devil. And smarter than any I have seen yet. Well, I guess I must open it to preference. Where would you like to go Mr. Potter?_

"GRYFFINDOR!" the shout from the hat came even before Harry finished his thought. The table to the far left of the room burst into cheers, the one on the far right broke out in boos.

Harry strode to the table he was assigned, and sat next to the brown-haired girl he had seen earlier and across from the red-head who tried to talk to him in the hall.

"Hermione Granger," the brown-haired girl extended a hand, "I've heard a lot about you Mr. Potter, though I'm sure most are lies."

"Nonsense," this came from the red-head across the table, food stuffed in his mouth. "He's Harry Potter. All the stories are true, 'cept the part of him being dead obviously."

Harry stayed quiet as the two started to argue about the things he did or didn't do. He looked out through the Hall and attempted to started choosing his Circle, only the powerful and loyal could join him. He was pulled from his thoughts by two more red-heads, likely the same family as the idiot next to him.

"Fred and George Weasley." Each of their hands extended toward him. He slowly shook them, wary of the two boys.

"Forget what our brother Ronald says, he has been a fan boy for years. Believes himself to be the destined best friend of Harry Potter."

"And what do you two feel?"

Both boys looked at each other and smiled, knowing they were the first to get him to talk.

"We are simple jokesters. We just wanted to introduce ourselves and wish you luck. Things have been… tense recently. Watch your back."

With that the boys left Harry to his food and observations.


	2. Chapter 2

Harry entered the Registration classroom. This was used every year to determine growth of the student and their abilities as well as to Register them and their Wands with the Ministry of Magic. This was the first class they attend every year, or that's what the Goblins told Harry.

He sat in the waiting room and waited for the rest of the students to move in and back out of the Registration Room. Finally, he was called in.

A woman, dressed in pink, with a little bow on her head greeted him. "Ah, Mr. Potter. I am Senior Undersecretary Delores Umbridge, the usual Registrar is absent for personal reasons this year, so I will be preforming this year. Your Wand Mr. Potter." She held her hand out.

Harry, with a practiced ease, since he had used a spare Wand for some time from his parents' vaults, pulled the wand from the holster he upgraded and handed it to the vomit inducing woman. She used her own Wand to perform a pass over his, some chant he hadn't heard before.

"Holly, Phoenix Tail Feather. Good Wand, stable. Bonded well. But, I am not sure what this means… Mr. Potter, are you hiding something from me?"

Harry smiled and pulled his second Wand from the holster on his ankle, another modified trick he learned, and handed it to her.

"Two Wands? Mr. Potter, that is a violation of Education Code 77: Each student may only carry one Wand to campus of any magical school, as delivered by the ICW. I will have to confiscate this Wand."

"I don't believe you will Madam Umbridge."

"And, why wouldn't I? It is a clear violation of…"

"A violation of nothing. The full Code 77 is, each student my only carry one pre-built Wand to the campus of any magical school. The one I gave you first was pre-built by Ollivander, the second was built by myself two days before my departure to this esteemed school with the specific purpose of using it myself. Therefore, it was not pre-made and is a personal custom Wand, thereby falling deeply within the realm of the law."

Madam Umbridge sputtered as Harry displayed his above average knowledge of laws. Finally, she spoke comprehensibly. "Be that as it may, I shall still have to confiscate this as someone your age cannot have made something like this, you have lied to a Ministry Official, there will be consequences." She took the Wand and set it in a bin with a few others. It seems that he was not the only one Madam Umbridge was attacking.

"I request the Headmaster's presence."

"Not possible Mr. Potter."

"I was not talking to you Madam Umbridge, I was asking the Castle to give notification to Headmaster Albus Dumbledore that one of his students needs his help."

"Preposterous. This castle is not a sentient being."

The Headmaster took that moment to step into the room. "Harry, you asked to see me?"

"This is none of your concern Albus."

"My student, Madam Umbridge, has requested my assistance, that on its own makes this my concern. Harry, what seems to be the problem?"

"Madam Umbridge here has confiscated my Wand for no reason other than she believes I am lying to her, no proof, and no test to prove the truth. I was wondering if you knew of a way to prove my claim."

"And what is your claim exactly?"

"I crafted that Wand, which allows me to carry both the one from Ollivander and the one I crafted."

"While I must side with Madam Umbridge with the thought you couldn't have crafted a Wand, I will run a test. This spell," He said, waving his own Wand over Harry's, "will cause it to glow blue when it's maker touches it." He picked the Wand up, causing it to glow red, then handed it to Delores, also glowing red. At his nod, she handed it back to Harry. The wand took on a bright blue glow. "That settles that then. Harry did indeed the creator of this Wand. Harry, when you are done here I would like to see you in my office, the password is 'gumdrop', I trust you can find the entrance."

Dumbledore, in all his grandfatherly wisdom and grace, turned and strode from the room. Madam Umbridge was fuming, Harry could see it in her eyes. She ran her Wand over the one he constructed and read off the results.

Harry sat in Dumbledore's office. A Madam Amelia Bones was sitting to his side, a small group of Aurors were outside the door. Apparently, a student having crafted a Wand was… odd enough for the Head of the DMLE to show up at the school.

"Harry, could you tell us who taught you to craft a Wand?"

"The Goblins."

Amelia broke in, "Goblins have never used Wands, how could they know how to craft them?"

"Well, they use other magic items and Artifacts, this gives them insight on how they function and they taught me that, then recommended I craft my own Wand."

"They recommended it? Why?"

"No idea, but I have learned that if a Goblin recommends something it is probably for the best."

Dumbledore spoke again, "Is that where you have been for the last four years? With the Goblins?"

"Yes, though I fail to see why that information is relevant to you Professor."

"How did you get there?"

"On my eleventh birthday, my cousin was playing his favorite game, Harry Hunting. I had run out of places to go, other than to that dreadful prison. I crossed the road, aiming for the door, and there was an explosion, it vaporized nearly everything around me. Starting with that place. Not to mention my cousin who was behind me bursting like a bubble alongside his friends. It took all of five seconds for Goblins to appear around me and take me to their home, a safe place if there ever was one.

"At first. I fought, thought I was being abducted by aliens or something. The first thing they did was throw me in the Mines, teach me discipline they said, and to make me pay my own way. I worked for months before they took me to a Bank they called Gringotts.

"They ran tests, told me many things. I learned some disturbing news. My parents' vaults, which I gained access to due to the End of Line Clause, had been drained of all funds, all properties and investments they had were sold off. I know who did it but I am not perusing anything now." Harry watched as Dumbledore squirmed a bit. "By that time, I had become used to the Mines. I… enjoyed the character building work.

"I spent another year in the Mines during the week, allowing myself weekends to… explore London and Diagon Alley. By the end of that I had amassed quite the cozy amount of money, as I wasn't a Goblin and I had nothing, they took their five percent of my earnings for using their Mine, let me keep what I wanted, and allowed me to sell on my own what I found. I had put together over a hundred thousand Galleons, spending only on what I needed.

"I kept myself hidden as much as I could from the Wizarding World, spent most of my time with Goblins. They decided that I needed to learn some things if I were to pass from their care into the Wizarding World as a whole, so they began to teach me many things I was meant to learn here. Arithmancy, Runes, Potions, anything that didn't require a Wand. Then, when I questioned deeper, I was sent back to the Mines for months on end, no escape. I thought I pushed the wrong button with the beings.

"Though it turned out that they were doing research to answer my questions, running tests, they wanted to keep me safe from. I found out that they were learning what they could of the things I would learn here so they could prepare me. Apparently before their untimely death, my parents, grandparents, and so on so forth, all the way back to the Banks founding, were kind and friendly to the Goblins and had even saved some of their lives.

"They were the only repaying the debt the best way they knew how. They taught me how to craft magical items, to forge Goblin metals. Finally, a year later, they prepped me to construct a Wand, they sent me to a far-off place, even I don't know where, to find Woods specifically suited to me. Took me days without contact to find a few pieces.

"Then they sent me to some mountains to find a proper Core. That took a month, learned to live on my own. The final pieces I needed were personal touches, things only I could decide on. I figured I had more than a Year to find them, so I took my time. Built up a larger sum of Galleons and slowly found the rest of the pieces I wanted."

"That is quite a story Mr. Potter." Amelia spoke, "you seem to have quite a life after your supposed death. But why hide?"

"Simple, the Goblins were honest with me. Told me all about the biased past of the Wizarding World, I decided for myself that there could very well be followers of the Dark Lord still wandering about looking for me for some type of revenge."

"If you don't mind me asking, what is your Wand compiled of? I am not familiar with these materials." This came from Dumbledore.

"My Wand is strange by your standards. The woods are… not from around here. The dark one is Flameburn-Ebony, the light one is Flashfrozed-Ash. The core is a combination of Demon Vocal Cords and Hellhound Teeth. The metal weaved throughout is Platinum, and the stone on the handle is Purple Quartz."

"Those sound like dangerous ingredients in a Wand. Their properties?"

"The Ebony produces a call for violence, the Ash for peace. The balance like Yin and Yang. Light and dark. The Cores, Demon Vocal Cords give off a very… powerful bloodlust the Hellhound Teeth produce a deep mental stability, eliminating the need for blood. The Platinum is pure, it symbolizes the purity of my soul, its properties change as my own soul does. The Amethyst further destabilizes the need for blood from the Demon Vocal Cords, and brings about a healing enhancement in my body. All in all, nothing terrible comes from this Wand accept what I make. It is a perfectly grey Wand. Good for dueling, healing, killing, saving. Defense, offense. Transfiguration, Charms. Good at everything, bad at nothing."

"Very well. Could you tell me how you obtained the parts?"

Harry sat in silence.

"Goblin secret I presume. Fair. You are dismissed thank you Mr. Potter."

Harry stood and walked to the door, as his hand settled on the knob Dumbledore spoke again.

"One last thing Mr. Potter, I wish to start a Club, it will span many topics, if you would be willing to assist me, we may have many things to reintroduce to the student population, and the population of the Wizarding World as a whole. Information will be posted in the common rooms."

Harry did not look back just simply nodded and left.


End file.
